NEW DELHI: In a quiet home in Manipur, grief and hope wage a silent, desperate war.The phone rings. Again. And again. No one picks up.The number belongs to Kongbrailatpam Nganthoi Sharma, a 20-year-old cabin crew member aboard Air India Flight AI 171, which crashed minutes after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on Thursday.For her family in Manipur’s Thoubal district, every unanswered call deepens the dread, but also keeps a flicker of hope alive.“Her phone rang several times. The internet is still on. It’s still receiving signals. That means something, doesn’t it?” says K Khenjita, a close relative, told news agency PTI.The London-bound Boeing 787 had 242 people on board. It stayed airborne for barely half a minute. Then it was gone – crashing into a doctors’ hostel, leaving behind a trail of fire, twisted steel, and unimaginable loss.As the news of the crash spread, a piercing wail rose from the Sharma residence. Nganthoi’s family had last heard from her just before takeoff.“I’m going to London. In a few minutes, we’ll take off. We may not be able to talk for a while,” read the message.They didn’t know those words might be her last.
‘She always feared plane crashes’
Nganthoi was not new to the skies. She had worked as cabin crew with Air India for three years, ever since she got selected at a recruitment drive in Imphal, while still pursuing her undergraduate studies. She was based in Mumbai, a city she had grown to love.But her cousin reveals a chilling memory: “She once told me she was terrified of plane crashes. She didn’t know what she’d do if she was in one. That fear haunted her.”Today, that fear has turned into the family’s nightmare.Inside the house, her youngest sister, a student of Class 9, sits frozen, while her eldest sister, a private school teacher, tries to shield the rest of the family from the blizzard of unverified reports flooding social media.“There’s fake news going around that she has died. People are sharing her photos, videos … without any confirmation. We’re struggling for real information, and these posts just make everything worse,” says a cousin, her voice cracking with frustration.Nganthoi a middle child, loved the sky, even if she feared it. Her family remembers her as bright, responsible, and full of life—a girl who “tried her luck” at an airline interview and ended up flying halfway across the world.Now, her family waits for any shred of news.Two of her relatives, one based in Delhi, another in Chandigarh, are rushing to Ahmedabad, hoping to find her, identify her, or at least confirm the unbearable.“We stopped calling her around 6 pm,” said Khenjita. “We were scared the phone battery would die. That ringtone … it felt like she was still somewhere, waiting.”The official list of casualties is yet to be released. And until the phone goes silent, they believe she might still be alive.
